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Group working to get police levy passed
By Ashley Luthern
BOARDMAN
Township residents are banding together to support the 3.85-mill police levy this November.
The Friends of Boardman Township Police Levy Campaign announced its formation at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
The group is led by residents Sue Filipovich, a broker for Legacy Select Real Estate; Adam Tokash, a Boardman High School alumnus who works at Turning Technologies; and Vince Bevacqua, vice president of media and public relations at Prodigal and a former reporter and news anchor for WYTV Channel 33. None has an affiliation with the Boardman Police Department or township government.
“What’s most concerning is the idea that if you do not maintain what you have, things slip by fast,” Bevacqua said.
He called current police staffing levels appalling, noting that only five patrolmen are on the roads during each shift.
The levy would generate about $3.5 million annually for the police department, costing owners of a home valued at $100,000 an additional $116.80 a year, or 32 cents a day.
Trustees Larry Moliterno and Tom Costello attended the news conference and said the grass-roots movement will help the levy campaign.
“It would be easy for us to do this, but it shows how re-energized residents are,” Moliterno said.
In the past, “the perception was that the levy was only supported by the [township] employees,” Costello said, referring to a 2.2-mill police and fire levy approved by township voters in November 2008.
During the 2008 levy campaign, trustees said if passed, the levy could add up to five police officers. One officer was added because of the levy, Moliterno said.
“Although we are hesitant to say a specific number of officers will be hired using the [2010] levy, this will expedite our goal of having 57 officers within the next five years,” Costello.
The department has 47 officers. Two more will be added by the first week in October using a one-time federal grant that will provide the officers’ starting salary — $16 per hour — for three years and stipulates that the township pay for a fourth year, Costello said.
The trustees already approved hiring the two patrolmen in July, but until the grant is deposited into the township account, the patrolmen cannot be scheduled for duty, Costello said.
He added the township was told to expect the funds by the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.
Those with questions about the police levy are encouraged to attend Boardman Community Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the government building, 8299 Market St.